Monthly Archives: September 2015

Celtic Football Club is delighted to announce that it will be working together with the Celtic Graves Society on a joint event to mark the 30th anniversary of the passing of the late, great

JOCK STEIN

The ceremony will take place at the Jock Stein statue at Celtic Park at 12noon on Sunday, September 20 before the home match against Dundee (KO: 3pm).

There will be a number of speakers including Lisbon Lion, Jim Craig in attendance at an event which will celebrate the phenomenal contribution which Mr Stein made to Celtic and to football in general.

It was 30 years ago, on September 10, 1985, that Jock Stein died, and the world of football mourned the loss of one of its greatest figures.

Celtic fans had long had a special affinity with Stein, first as a player in the 1950s who had helped to deliver the Coronation Cup and the Double of 1953/54, and then as the manager who ushered in a golden era for Celtic, both domestically and in Europe where, in 1967, they became the continent’s best team.

His achievements are staggering. At Celtic, he delivered 10 League Championships, eight Scottish Cups, six Scottish League Cups and of course, the greatest prize of all, the European Cup in 1967.

Celtic’s legendary captain, Billy McNeill, said of his manager: “Lisbon wouldn’t have been possible without him. Had Jock Stein not come to Celtic at that time, the club would just have lumbered on. We might have won the Scottish Cup in 1965 – that may have been our year for winning the cup under Jimmy McGrory – but Jock brought the different approach to everything that consolidated it for us.

“I can honestly say that we might have won the Scottish Cup back then but what certainly would not have happened was the sheer volume of trophies and success that came after that – and that is down to the Big Man. For me, the modern-day Celtic owes one hell of a debt to Big Jock for what he did.”